Roundup: Provocative boilerplate

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The House of Commons has risen for the summer, but how long it stays risen could be the big question as the Senate has two bills on its plate that they could send back to the Commons. The first of those is the budget implementation bill, after the Commons rejected their amendment. What inflamed tensions however was the boilerplate language that it was rejected for infringing on the rights and privileges of the Commons.

The fact that this is boilerplate eluded many Senators (and yours truly), given that it seemed to be yet another provocation given some of the underlying tensions in the current dispute. Yes, the language comes from Section 80(1) of the Standing Orders, but given that the Senate is trying to assert its independence and authority, the words seemed particularly targeted in this instance, especially as the Prime Minister rather dubiously claimed that the Senate has no ability to amend or reject budget bills when their only actual limitation is that they can’t initiate them.

Having received this rejection, the Senate decided to leave it overnight to think it over, and with luck, tempers will cool and they’ll get the better sense that this is boilerplate straight from the appendix of Beauchesne’s Parliamentary Rules and Forms, 5th edition, that that it likely wasn’t meant as a slight or a provocation. (Probably. But given how ham-fisted and tone-deaf the House Leader has a tendency of being, this isn’t a guarantee). It’s possible that cooler heads will prevail and they will defer rather than letting it ping-pong.

The more contentious bill may in fact be Bill S-3, which amends the Indian Act to remove gender-based discrimination, but the Commons rejected the Senate amendments that would eliminate other forms of discrimination. This particular bill may wind up being more problematic because it’s not a money bill and there is a bigger point of principle about discrimination and rights which a lot of senators get very exercised about (rightfully), and Indigenous senators in this case are particularly sensitive to. There have been suggestions that some are proposing a conference between the chambers to resolve the potential impasse, but we are not there yet.

Part of the calculation is that because the Commons has risen, a game of chicken is now being declared, where they are essentially daring senators not to recall them to deal with these amendments, and like Peter Harder has been doing, there will be all kinds of voices going on about the expense of such a recall. I think it’s overblown, but it wouldn’t be the first time that the Commons has used such a tactic to try and force the Senate’s hand into backing down on passing bills at the end of the sitting.

Good reads:

  • As part of National Aboriginal Day, the PM announced that Langevin Block would be renamed to…Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council. Okay then.
  • Another National Aboriginal Day announcement was turning the old US Embassy into an Indigenous building; one group of mostly Indigenous architects objects.
  • The government has re-appointed the interim Language Commissioner until a permanent replacement can be found, after allowing the post to be vacant for days.
  • A former CSIS director says the new national security bill will be “onerous” for CSIS in doing its work. (Not sure the experts agree).
  • The bill also allows CSE to collect “publicly available” information, which still raises a number of red flags for privacy.
  • The government is hoping that tabling the bill on limiting solitary confinement is enough to halt a trial about the practice as “cruel and unusual punishment.”
  • There is a chance that the escalator tax on alcohol at the centre of the budget bill dispute may put Canada before a WTO tribunal.
  • Access to Information documents show that the former Chief of Defence Staff was unconvinced by the Deschamps report about the scope of sexual misconduct.
  • Two former House of Commons Clerks are mystified by process chosen to fill the position, and why Marc Bosc was not selected as part of it.
  • Here’s a look at Jagmeet Singh trying to appeal to Quebecers by way of a Roch Voisine cassette (never mind that Voisine is Acadien from New Brunswick).
  • Thomas Mulcair has not yet decided on his post-leadership future.
  • Chantal Hébert picks her takes for current winners and losers in the Commons.

Odds and ends:

The Senate ethics committee has voted to carry on the investigation into the other harassment in now-former Senator Don Meredith’s office.

The Royal Canadian Navy is urging its members to participate in Pride parades in uniform, which is a change in policy.

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